{"id":15410,"date":"2026-03-10T11:37:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T11:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/how-this-fateful-encounter-became-a-lesson-in-forgiveness\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T05:59:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T05:59:25","slug":"how-this-fateful-encounter-became-a-lesson-in-forgiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/angels-and-miracles\/miracles\/gods-grace\/how-this-fateful-encounter-became-a-lesson-in-forgiveness\/","title":{"rendered":"How This Fateful Encounter Became a Lesson in Forgiveness"},"content":{"rendered":"

The envelope immediately caught my attention as I opened the day\u2019s mail. The stamp revealed it had been sent from a state prison<\/a>. I\u2019d been a pastor here at the Church of the Master for 22 years. Not many letters came to me from prisoners.<\/p>\n

Curious, I opened it. A few postage stamps spilled out onto my desk. I pulled out the letter, handwritten on notebook paper<\/a>. \u201cI came to your church 14 years ago, asking for food and money,\u201d it began. \u201cI told the preacher my house had burned down, but that was a lie.\u201d<\/p>\n

I knew exactly who this was. How dare he write me after all these years! Had his conscience finally gotten the better of him<\/a>? Or was he trying to pull some other con? He had no idea the pain his deceit had caused me and my wife, Jeannie. The anger had festered inside me ever since. I\u2019d relived that day in my mind countless times.<\/p>\n

It had been raining hard since early morning that Sunday, and there was a flood warning<\/a> in effect. It was the kind of day when everyone avoided going out unless it was important. So when I met the man outside my office and heard his story of losing his home and needing assistance, it didn\u2019t set off any alarm bells. He seemed as if he really needed my help. His clothes were drenched. The service had just ended, though I hadn\u2019t seen him in the crowd. \u201cAnything you can do, I\u2019d be obliged,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s my little girl I\u2019m most concerned about. If we just had some money for food\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

My heart went out to him. I had three young children myself. \u201cI\u2019ll ask the deacons to approve an emergency gift,\u201d I told him. \u201cBut I\u2019ll need to call them, then bring you the money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how to thank you,\u201d the man said. He told me the name of the motel he and his family were staying in and the room number, then went to wait for me there. Jeannie had already gone home to prepare lunch, so I gave her a call to let her know what I was doing and that I\u2019d be a bit late. Then I called the deacons to approve an emergency gift of $100 and picked up some sandwiches<\/a> for the hungry family. By the time I met the man in front of his motel room, nearly 45 minutes had passed. I handed him the food and cash, along with my business card in case he wanted to reach me. I said goodbye and hurried to the car to drive home. I hoped Jeannie and the kids had eaten lunch without me.<\/p>\n

When I pulled into the driveway, I was startled to see Jeannie sitting on the front porch, crying, completely soaked and streaked with mud. She held out her arms to me, and I ran to embrace her. \u201cWhat happened?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI almost drowned,\u201d she said, her words coming out in sobs. She went on to explain what had happened.<\/p>\n

Near our house is a drainage ditch with a culvert that runs under a wide driveway before it empties out on the other side. When it rains, the ditch turns into a rushing stream. After I\u2019d called, Jeannie had postponed lunch until my return. She went out onto the back porch to see if the drainage ditch was at risk of overflowing and noticed a little boy riding his bicycle in the street.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext thing I knew, he\u2019d fallen into the ditch,\u201d she said. \u201cThe water covered his head.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow awful!\u201d I said, holding her close.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ran to him,\u201d she continued. \u201cI caught one of his hands and was able to pull him out, but then I fell in myself. I grabbed the top of the culvert, but the water was so strong, I could barely hold on. It was rushing over my face, and I couldn\u2019t breathe. I thought I was going to die. Then I had this strong feeling that I should let go. All I could do was trust God to protect me. I relaxed my hands, and the water pulled me through the culvert, under the driveway, and out the other side. I was able to climb onto the grass. A neighbor was there to help me and to get the boy back to his family. Ted, I\u2019m so glad you\u2019re home!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThank God you\u2019re alive,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you saved the boy\u2019s life! But I\u2019m so sorry you went through that\u2014it should\u2019ve been me out there instead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s okay,\u201d Jeannie said. \u201cYou were helping someone too.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was right, and it was the only thing I clung to in the hours and days that followed, when I was racked with guilt for not being there for Jeannie.<\/p>\n

The Indianapolis newspaper published a front-page photo and story of the rescue, calling Jeannie a hero. The Reverend Norman Vincent Peale even read it on his national radio show. I was so proud of Jeannie\u2019s bravery, but she couldn\u2019t forget the fear she\u2019d felt. \u201cI keep flashing back to my head under the water, to thinking I wouldn\u2019t make it,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was terrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n

I tried to console her, but my words did little to comfort her, which saddened me. I was her husband, and I wanted to be her protector.<\/p>\n

A few days after the incident, I got a call from the manager of a pizza parlor. \u201cI need you to pay your bill,\u201d he said. \u201cA man came in and ordered a pizza. He said he was your son and that you would come in to pay. He gave me your business card.\u201d<\/p>\n

My throat went dry. What a crook! What kind of person steals from a church? I felt foolish for being so gullible. I explained the situation to the manager, letting him know that, unfortunately, we\u2019d both been conned. When I hung up, I was overcome with anger. Gone was the comfort of knowing I\u2019d been absent for a good reason. This man\u2019s lies had caused me to miss being there for Jeannie. It was why she had been the one to go in after the boy instead of me, why she\u2019d nearly drowned and was so traumatized as a result. In my mind, I held the man responsible. I thought of him anytime someone came to the church asking for help. Every time there was a storm and I caught Jeannie nervously looking out the windows.<\/p>\n

For 14 years, I had carried that guilt and anger inside of me, and now he was confessing. From prison, no less. I continued reading. \u201cPlease forgive me,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sending these stamps as a down payment on what I owe. I wish I could say why I picked out your church. It wasn\u2019t personal. I\u2019ve done a lot of bad things in my life. I\u2019m sincerely sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slowly I read the words again. It hit me that I really didn\u2019t know this man at all. I didn\u2019t understand the circumstances of his life. In my mind, I went over the details of that day again. How he was the reason I wasn\u2019t there. Jeannie seeing the boy on the bike. Running to his rescue instead of me.<\/p>\n

I should have been the one in her place. And yet\u2026the reason Jeannie had gone out to the porch was because I wasn\u2019t there. If I had been at home, the five of us would have all been having our lunch, sitting in the dining room, on the other side of the house. No one would have seen the boy. He almost surely would have drowned.<\/p>\n

All those years I\u2019d been so caught up in my anger at the man who\u2019d lied to me that I\u2019d been blind to the fact that our fateful encounter had allowed Jeannie to be right where God needed her to be. A tragedy was averted. Yes, it had been stressful for Jeannie. But the alternative? My plan? It would have been far worse.<\/p>\n

The man asking my forgiveness knew nothing of this, of course. How God had used even his deceit for good. The bitterness I\u2019d harbored toward him was gone, replaced by a grace I knew wasn\u2019t my doing. I found a pen and writing pad.<\/p>\n

\u201cDear sir,\u201d I began. \u201cThank you for your letter. There\u2019s something I\u2019m long overdue in sharing with you\u2026.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The envelope immediately caught my attention as I opened the day\u2019s mail. The stamp revealed it had been sent from a state prison. I\u2019d been a pastor here at the Church of the Master for 22 years. Not many letters came to me from prisoners. Curious, I opened it. A few postage stamps spilled out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":26404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[215,55,54],"ppma_author":[2091],"class_list":["post-15410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gods-grace","tag-forgiveness","tag-inspiration","tag-miracles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow This Fateful Encounter Became a Lesson in Forgiveness - Guideposts Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How This Fateful Encounter Became a Lesson in Forgiveness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The envelope immediately caught my attention as I opened the day\u2019s mail. 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